If you maintain a lot of data in Google Spreadsheet, you’ve probably at least once thought, “Hey, I should be able to get all those locations and quickly plot them in a Google Map”. Well, you can of course. But doing this is not quite as obvious as you might expect.

With Google writing both the spreadsheet and the map-making software, there should be several easy ways to do this. You’d expect to see a File > Export as Map option or a File > Download as KML. But no, there’s nothing like that. What you soon realise is there are a number of ways to do this, but none of them are quite what you’d expect.

I’m sure you’ve done this before. What starts out as a simple decision to wrangle a bit of data turns into a couple of days of mashing the data through the wrong shaped sieve, then you suddenly come across several better options you wish you’d known about to begin with. Today you get to skip this headache, as I’ll give you the details of each method right here. Read all the way to the end before making your choice. You’ve been warned!

Google Spreadsheet Mapper

For many years now, Google has been revising its Spreadsheet Mapper tool in order to give you an easy way to create KML files for Google Earth maps and matching URLs for Google Maps. It comes with extremely thorough instructions and it isn’t too unwieldy to use. But somehow, it still seems just a little too clunky. When all you want to do is get two columns of data and make it show up on a map, the Google Spreadsheet mapper route is an overkill.

Google Spreadsheets Map Wizard Tool

If you’re a web developer, you may like the Google Spreadsheets Map Wizard Tool. It does its best to make the process easy, but leaves you with a need to geocode your locations yourself, which none of the other options do. It might be useful to certain people, but certainly not all will appreciate the extra hassle.

Use Google Maps To Import Data From CSV Or Google Spreadsheet

Yup, you can search all day before you realise that this whole process can be done FROM Google Maps. Since Google revised its map software, you can actually create a new map, create a new layer and click “Import” to get your data from your Google Spreadsheet.

Chart Within Your Spreadsheet

For some purposes, it’s enough to be able to create a map chart within your spreadsheet. This works excellently when you want to see the amount of people living in any given location easily. To do it, simply create a chart and choose the map option.

Obviously, importing into a Google Map is the best option for most people’s needs, however these other methods could be very useful if you have a specific need in mind. Which tool do you like best and why? What information do you want to display on a Google Map with the help of a Google Spreadsheet?

I wish the new Google Maps would allow KML import, I use RideWithGPS to plot my routes and when I'm running a ride, I usually import the KML into Google Maps, so other people can follow the route with their smart phones, I just put a link in the ride description. The old Google Maps still has the import function but I get server errors all the time so it's unreliable. Looks like I'll have to plot the route in Google Maps, the route plotting tool seems to have a mind of its own, that why I use the above method.